Leprechaun Craft

No St. Patrick's Day celebration is complete without a mischievous leprechaun. These child-sized creatures store their pots of gold at the end of a rainbow. Irish lore reports that if a leprechaun is captured by a human, the leprechaun grants three wishes so that he can be released. Your first grader will enjoy creating his very own leprechaun from a recycled toilet paper tube. Just allow time for the paint and glue to dry between steps.

What You Need:

1-2 toilet paper tubes

Green paint

Paintbrush

Skin colored paint

Black marker

Scissors

Green construction paper

Reddish brown yarn

Black construction paper

Yellow construction paper

What You Do:

Help your child paint the toilet paper tube Irish green. Let dry.

Assist your child in cutting a 2 3/4 inch diameter circle from the green construction paper. This will become the brim of the leprechaun’s hat.

Help your child cut a 1 3/4 inch hole in the center in the green construction paper circle you just cut.

Slide the hat brim a little over an inch down the painted toilet paper roll. You might have to tinker with the width of the hole to fit your particular toilet paper roll.

Have your child paint a skin colored face beneath the face, a little over an inch long.

If you have a second toilet paper tube, cut two 1 1/2 inch long arms from the roll.

Have your child paint the ends of the arms with the skin colored paint.

If you don’t have a second toilet paper roll, you can cut arms from green construction paper.

Ask your child cut a 5 1/2 inch long belt from the black construction paper. It should be about a 1/3 inch thick.

Cut a two or three 1 1/2 inch pieces of the reddish brown yarn and glue under the leprechaun’s head for his hairline.

Cut fourteen or so 1 inch pieces of yarn for the leprechaun’s beard.

Help your child glue beard pieces under face. Let dry.

Trim leprechaun’s beard.

Your child might want to place his leprechaun over a chocolate gold coin. If you and your child are feeling industrious, you could make a set of these for a St. Patrick’s Day Feast. They would look great next to a glass of green milk.